Alemania no mas!--July 14, 2014

Alemania no mas!! Whew, yeah, the Mundial was super fun and all that, but after another day inside yesterday, I'm ready for everyone to get back to normal. Uruguayans hate Argentinians, so they were all super happy that Alemania won. It was almost as crazy as when we beat Italy, it's like we all just turned into Germans overnight. So yeah, it was a fun ride, but we are looking forward to being able to go into houses and not have to wait until half time to teach a lesson. Not really the best way to invite the spirit. Also, yesterday was the Uruguayan Father´s day, so Pops, Feliz dia!! The other day in June is Grandparents day, so Father’s day got kicked back a little bit. I got a cool keychain from the relief society as a future father, so I was super happy about that. Everyone thinks I’m super old and have kids anyway, so it works.

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster! We had the wedding of Iris and Leo on Wednesday and it was super fun! We all went to Ciudad Vieja for the ceremony and some of their family came and it was just crazy. The ceremony was performed by a woman, and she put on this sash thing of the Uruguayan flag which gives her authority or something like that, read them the laws and importance of marriage, and it honestly felt like a joke because she was cracking jokes with the family the whole time. It was funny, but it is easy to see why many people don’t respect their own weddings. (TEMPLE; TEMPLE; TEMPLE) But it was fun and we were witnesses, so we got to sign this huge book of forms and everything and sit in the big chair and I felt pretty official. They were really happy, and that makes everything worth it. Then on Thursday they had their interview to be baptized and Iris passed with flying colors, but Leo is still struggling with smoking. He has given up so much stuff, but this last little bit is more difficult. So they did not get baptized, but we talked about everything and put the goal for this next week. They both agreed and are going to really work at it for this next week. So we are really hoping that everything comes together for them.

Other than that it was Elder Martinez´s birthday on Tuesday and he turned 22! He is super Viejo. One of the members in our area is a professional cook and cake-maker, and she made him a huge toy-story cake, and it was amazing. We ate cake for quite a few days. We also went to the house of one of the recent converts that we are really helping right now and she made a bunch of food too, so we ate pretty well for a couple of days. It was pretty darn nice. It was fun for Martinez, and we just had a good time.

Also, spiritual though of the day. Attributes of Christ: HUMILITY. There is way too much pride in this world, and it changes within each of us. Don’t be prideful, accept the will of the Lord, and keep on keepin on. Love you guys like crazy! Thank you for everything you do and have fun this week!!

Todo mi amor,

Elder Degn

ps. This is Iris and Leo and two of Iris´s sisters.